What to Expect in Final Debate

Blog posted On October 18, 2016

With Election Day looming around the corner, the presidential debate circuit comes to a close tomorrow with the third and final debate between Democratic Nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican Nominee Donald Trump.  

MarketWatch reporter Darrell Delamaide asserts, “there is a hunger among voters for actual substantive debate about policy” because that is something we have not yet seen this election.  According to national polls conducted by major news outlets like NBC, the voters are most concerned about the future of the economy and the state of the job market.  These issues have been largely absent from debate discussion which has repeatedly gravitated back toward personal attacks and extraneous irrelevant outbursts.  In the Pew Research survey of voter concerns, terrorism ranks second, a topic that has come up but been glossed over during the debates. 

Debate viewership is on the rise; YouTube saw a 40% increase in streaming viewers from the first debate to the second debate, and media analysts predict the third debate to draw even more of an audience.  The debate series is drawing an international audience as well with Canada, Mexico, Australia, the UK, and Vietnam as the top five foreign countries tuning in.  

In an interview with HousingWire, former Representative Rick Lazio, who represented New York in the US House of Representatives, said “It’s disappointing that housing, something so central to all of us, has received scant attention during the presidential race.  […] it would be great if one of the candidates were to deliver a serious policy speech on the key challenges in housing.”  Rising rent burdens, declining homeownership rates, and reduced inventory are some of the issues the next president will have to address.     

The third presidential debate will take place tomorrow, Wednesday, October 19 at 9 PM EST.  Amid calls to cancel, the debate will go on as scheduled. To livestream the debate on YouTube click here to access resource.

Sources: HousingWire, CNET, MarketWatch, Washington Post